November-December 2004

November 3, 2004

Looks like we're doomed to four more years of wrongheaded, incompetent government. Here's hoping we survive...

Hard to believe the American people are foolish and gullible enough to elect Dubya after his disastrous first term.

November 5, 2004

Got a couple of time travel films from Netflix. Time travel is possibly my favorite sub-genre of science fiction, ever since I first read A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (Was that the first time travel story ever?)

Two Korean college students communicate via a damaged ham radio...except that he's in 2000, and she's in 1979. '79 was a very eventful year in Korea, with a student revolution that caused the fall of dictatorship and the rise of democracy. The film seemed a bit amateurish, and much of the acting was way over the top.

November 14, 2004

A Humphrey Bogart film I had never seen nor even heard of before. Looks like an attempt to re-capture the "formula" of Casablanca, many similarities. Bogart is an Air Corps veteran returning to Occupied Japan as a civilian. Before the war he had run a night club called "Ricks" "Tokyo Joe's." A couple of weeks before Pearl Harbor, he had left his White Russian wife (who was a singer in his club, with a passing resemblance to Ingrid Bergman.) Bogart gets all misty eyed on hearing the song "As Time Goes By""These Foolish Things Remind Me of You." This song is run into the ground throughout the film with interminable repetitions. He then heard that she has died, so 7 years have passed before his return to war-torn Japan. Turns out she is still alive, but has divorced him and married an American lawyer who looks a lot like Paul Henreid.

There's one scene where an officer brings up Communists while talking about the Japanese nationalist plot, but the voice is different, and that bit of dialogue is clearly an interpolation after the fact.

November 15, 2004

iPod R.I.P. I dropped it on a hard floor, croaked the hard drive. I guess I shoulda gone for the AppleCare plan when I bought it.

November 17, 2004

Biopic of a Vietnamese woman who survives the war and prospers in the U.S.A. Most of the film is set in Vietnam, which is depicted as a peaceful land of great beauty, as it may well have been before the war. I actually got this because it features Billy Bob Thornton, but actually his part is quite small.

November 24, 2004

Down to Florida

A long, late flight down to Plantation for Thanksgiving.

November 25, 2004

This is a technical tour-de-force, an entire feature film with a cast of hundreds, filmed in a single take! Set in St. Petersburg's Hermitage Museum, it traces the history of Russia from the 18th century to the present. An amazing piece of wok.

December 5, 2004

More alternate history, probably the beginning of a new series (I hope!) The point of departure for this is the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. In this timeline, the air raid is followed up by a landing and conquest of the Hawaiian Islands by the Imperial Japanese Army. It's a good read for alternate history fans, but a gloomy one as the Japanese practice the atrocities permitted and encouraged by their evil bushido code of "honor."

December 9, 2004

Edith Wharton was in France in the summer of 1914, and stayed to report the early days of the "Great War." The French military authorities allowed her to tour the front extensively. This book was written in the thick of the early months of the conflict, when things were actually going fairly well for the French. Actually, I suspect that it is a collection of journalistic pieces. She makes no attempt at objectivity. Her descriptions of the horrors of trench warfare and of the ruins of pretty French villages are masterful, often counterpointed with descriptions of the local flora, and many uses of reference to color. (Wharton was one of the originators of the profession of interior decorator, and co-wrote the first major book on this topic, so it is not surprising that her writing places so much stress on the visual aspects.)

December 12, 2004

I've seen this several times before, but I never tire of it. This masterpiece would definitely place very high up on my "desert island" list. This was the film that started my crush on Emma Thompson, who is absolutely irresistible, as is the Tuscan countryside featured. Michael Keaton is fabulous as Dogbody, and the whole production is one fo the greatest films of all time.

The 2004-05 TV season

We're about at the end of the first half of the season. I've particularly enjoyed Desperate Housewives, Boston Legal and Lost. Other new shows I'm following are Jack and Bobby, and Las Vegas.

I'm also continuing to enjoy The West Wing, Scrubs, NYPD Blue, Malcolm in the Middle, Arrested Development, Everwood, Will & Grace, ER and JAG.

December 13, 2004

A forgettable romantic comedy, mainly notable for the fact that it features Marilyn Monroe in a bit part.

December 25, 2004

Christmas

Tova came in on Tuesday, and George is back from Brandeis, so we've got a full nest again.

Had a quiet Christmas morning in front of the fire. The kids gave me a boxed set of the Shostakovich Symphonies, which I'm greatly looking forward to listening to.

Harriet made a T shirt for George that says: "My parents heard the BSO play Mahler's 8th and all I got was this lousy T shirt!" along with a photo of Gustav.

It was a beautiful sunny day, temps in the low 30s, so I went for a 25 mile ride in the afternoon on my Hetchins, out to Dover (Claybrook Road, Charles River Road) then back via South Street and Kendrick Street. Felt good to be out again, though I was a bit cold near the end of the ride.

December 26, 2004

Terrible tsunami in South Asia, very scary.

December 27, 2004

The Christmas Revels

This year it was a French-Canadian theme, one that is near and dear to my heart. Old friend Walter Locke stole the show.

December 28, 2004

I'm not usually a fan of stuff with magic, but this was great fun, with an all star cast including Cher, Susan Sarandon, Michelle Pfeiffer in the title roles, and Jack Nicholson as the Devil. Highly recommended.

December 30, 2004

I remember seeing this on the big screen when it was new, and was very impressed by it at the time. The techniques and pacing are a bit dated now, and it is sometimes a bit heavy-handed.

It's a fictionalized version of the notorious Scopes evolution trial in Tennessee, 1923. Fredrick March plays the William Jennings Bryan character (with his makeup slathered on a bit too thick.) Spencer Tracy as Clarence Darrow, Gene Kelley as H.L. Mencken. Harry Morgan (Dragnes's Frank Gannon) is the judge, and Dick York (Bewitched) is Scopes. This is a classic, you should see it if you haven't, even though it is sometimes a bit slow moving and obvious.

December 31, 2004

New Year's Eve

Tova threw a party for a bunch of her friends. Mostly a great success, she knows nice folks. It felt a bit strange, sometimes feeling "loco parentis" urges, but then remembering that they're all adults, and that it's Tova's party.